Uber pays $178 million to end legal fight with Australian taxi drivers
Global rideshare giant Uber will pay $178 million to settle a long-running dispute with Australian taxi and hire car drivers who lost out when the company entered the Australian market
SYDNEY (AP) — Global rideshare giant Uber will pay 272 million Australian dollars ($178 million) to settle a long-running dispute with Australian taxi and hire car drivers who lost out when the company entered the Australian market.
A class action against Uber had been expected to go to trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday, but Maurice Blackburn Lawyers — representing 8,000 taxi and hire car drivers — said the case will be dropped because Uber agreed to the financial settlement.
Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Michael Donelly said that drivers and car owners suffered financial losses due to Uber’s aggressive entry into the market in 2012 and that the company consistently attempted to avoid compensating them.
“On the courtroom steps and after years of refusing to do the right thing by those we say they harmed, Uber has blinked, and thousands of everyday Australians joined together to stare down a global giant,” he said.
